I’m a huge fan of Quora (you can find me on Quora here). A while back, I Started Answering Questions on Quora. Now, I have a pretty cool and growing presence within online marketing on this cool social site. I really enjoy Quora for a multitude of reasons, with the following ranking towards the top of the list:

Quora is a great way to build your authority and presence within your field. I’m always looking for ways to “get out there” within the digital marketing community, and Quora truly provides a great platform for achieving this goal. Next time someone looks you up online, your Quora profile will rank high and make you look great.

Quora offers an amazing way to give back and contribute within the online marketing field. Giving back is always at the top of my list. It’s all about helping others succeed. Invest time to answer questions in great detail and you can easily make someone’s day!

This social platform drives sales. From time to time, I include recommendations on Quora, especially when someone asks about an online marketing platform or agency. I have received “thank yous” first hand from several platforms and agencies that mentioned my responses drove new partnerships / business relationships.

Quora offers an excellent avenue to network with others. One of my answers on Quora led to an email conversation and then eventually a phone call. Deliver great content and build your network!

Today, I was absolutely thrilled to see a new social media widget when searching on Bing. Check out the screenshot below, featuring Bing results for “auto insurance”. You’ll see the standard stuff: paid results at the top, paid results on the right rail, and organic results. However, now there’s a new social media widget / right rail as well. It includes a connect with Facebook placement at the top, followed by several Quora placements right after.

What does this mean for your the savvy online advertising professional? Your Quora program is going to gain even more exposure than before. If you are not investing in Quora, this is just one more reason (in addition to the ones listed above) to go all out. I really commend Bing for testing/featuring these Quora results!

In my last post, I was just writing how Google+ Is Showing Up In Paid Search, in a major way. Today, when performing my Daily Checks, I noticed a major change on Bing too. I noticed a little number in the upper right hand of my screen that kept going up with each search. Then, I clicked the little number and went to a page about Bing Rewards. You can see a screenshot of the Bing Rewards page below.

So, what is this Bing Rewards? Basically, Bing is allowing you to earn points just for searching. As you get more points, you can redeem your points for rewards such as gift cards, Xbox LIVE points, and more.

I think this is a really neat idea. I’m sure that Bing Rewards will draw some more attention to Bing and increase loyalty. People love freebies and rewards. That said, Bing Rewards could also potentially lower click quality. Some people may search just to get more points. Some may go as far as creating automated bots to search on Bing. With those increased searches, it is possible that some of them click paid search ads with a lower propensity to convert. It will all come down to Bing’s click quality monitoring, which in my experience is quite good. My end conclusion: This is a really neat concept, hopefully it will increase volume over time, and (especially in the short run) it will be important to keep an eye on click quality just in case Bing Rewards affects click quality.

Today, I was doing some searches on Bing and noticed something really unique. The first result in the organic results for the keyword auto insurance is something called Editors’ Picks (first screenshot below). When I click the title, it goes to this page on Bing that highlights some of the sites their editors found (second screenshot below).

I wanted to point this out for a few reasons. First and foremost, it’s cool and unique. Microsoft adCenter powers the paid and organic results for both Yahoo! and Bing. That said, both Yahoo! and Bing are adding on neat, unique features on top of the standard results. While Yahoo is Pushing The Limits of Organic Search with custom widgets and Rich Ads, Bing is pushing the limits with their Editors’ Picks.

Second, it’s quite likely that the Editors’ Picks will affect your organic program on Bing. The Editors’ Picks are ranking quite well. If you’re in the Editors’ Picks, that’s really great news. Not only do they rank high, but it’s also a way to get a second listing if your website already ranks on its own. If you’re not in the Editors’ Picks, it’s likely your organic listing is being pushed down. You’ll want to work really hard and think about creative ways to get into the Editors’ Picks.

Third, as online marketers we need to be careful not to assume that Bing and Yahoo! will have the same organic results. Fundamentally, they are powered by the same engine, but now we are starting to see some really unique customization on top of the fundamentals.

Way to go, Bing! I’m looking forward to seeing more custom features within organic search on both Bing and Yahoo!

Hey Everyone,
Today I wanted to highlight my cool new Bing t-shirt (see picture below). A few weeks ago, I noticed that @bing was running a Free T-Shirt Friday contest on Twitter. They simply asked folks to message @bing with a description of their search activities on Bing, specifically how people were using Bing to plan their weekend. At the time, I was searching on Bing for cool new online marketing blogs to learn some new pay per click strategies. I’m thrilled that I won the t-shirt and it’s really great quality. I’m a huge fan of the upcoming Yahoo-Microsoft Search Alliance and an overall huge fan of Bing. Bing team, thanks for the free t-shirt!

All the best,
PPC Ian (Ian Lopuch)

P.S. My blog commenting contest is going extremely well, but it’s not too late to enter! You still have over a week left to win a free review of your blog or website here on PPC Ian. To everyone who has participated so far, I sincerely thank you for your support.

P.P.S. I have been getting a lot of positive feedback about Jonathan Volk’s Facebook Ads Guide. It’s not too late to pick up your copy. Start implementing Jonathan’s proprietary strategies now before they become commonplace!

P.P.P.S. I’ve been winning a lot of stuff lately! Check out John Chow’s latest episode of Dot Com Pho and you can see yours truly winning a pack of Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards live on Dot Com Pho. Scroll down on that post and you can see my blog commenting strategy hard at work. It’s blog commenting like this that has put PPC Ian on John Chow’s top commentors and propelled my traffic to new levels.

About PPC Ian

Hi, I'm Ian Lopuch, also known as PPC Ian. I'm a Silicon Valley business executive, marketing executive, and general manager, with deep roots in technology. I’m also an investor with a lifelong obsession for cash flow. Whether I’m acquiring and developing commercial real estate properties, leading complex digital marketing programs with $30 MM+ annual budgets, integrating cutting-edge technologies, or hiring and coaching large teams, I take charge of all with the mindset of an investor.